Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been awarded $7 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for four projects that seek to advance Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), which is capable of harnessing the Earth’s heat where conventional geothermal technologies cannot. The funding is part of a $400 million investment that the Department of Energy has made in geothermal energy thanks to the Recovery Act.

A report from the National Academies of Science cites damage to human health from air pollution associated with electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation as one of the single biggest hidden costs of energy production

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) released a new study on the installed costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the U.S., showing that the average cost of these systems declined by more than 30 percent from 1998 to 2008. Within the last year of this period, costs fell by more than 4 percent.

The White House announced its intention to nominate Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley engineer and scientist Arun Majumdar to become the first director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

There’s a new way to explore biology’s secrets. With a flash of light, scientists zeroed in on the type of neural cell that controls swimming in larval zebrafish. The technique could become a powerful way to learn how biological systems work.

Berkeley Lab scientist Ashok Gadgil is one of 10 recipients of this year’s Heinz Awards in recognition of humanitarian research that has improved energy efficiency, reduced health risks and enhanced the quality of life in developing countries

Berkeley Lab is partnering with Oakland Technical High School and El Cerrito High School in their Green Academies. Beginning this fall, students and their teachers will be able to take lab tours, hear talks by Berkeley Lab scientists and eventually, some will have eight-week summer internships.

Through $1.8 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Berkeley Lab scientists will provide technical expertise to help federal energy managers with advanced energy-efficient technologies in lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), and control systems.

Berkeley Lab’s Iain Walker and his colleagues in environmental energy research helped the Siebel Foundation develop the criteria for its Energy Free Home Challenge, which comes with a $20 million global incentive prize. The Challenge is a competition to create a new generation of systems and technologies for practical homes that realize a net-zero, non-renewable energy footprint without increasing the cost of ownership.